Epic adds nearly 20 third-party games to its mobile store, launches free games program

If you’ve been waiting for the Epic Games Store on mobile to get more third-party games, you don’t have to wait anymore. The company is adding nearly 20 third-party games and is launching a free games program to boot. On top of that, it’s also offering to pay some iOS fees to lure more devs to its free games program.

Epic has announced that it is bringing its first wave of third-party games to its mobile store on Android and iOS. A total of 17 third-party games will be on the Android storefront, while 15 games are being added to the one on iOS — which is only available in the EU.

Along with the new games, the company is also launching its free games program on mobile. The program started on January 23 with Dungeon of the Endless: Apogee being the first game to be featured. Just like with the PC version of the store, this free offering is only temporary, ending on February 20. Epic adds that Bloons TD 6 will be coming soon to the program and that it plans to add new titles each month until it moves to a weekly cadence later this year.

It hasn’t exactly been the smoothest of sailing for Epic since it launched its store on mobile a few months ago. One hurdle it has faced is getting more gamers to install the app. According to the firm, 29 million users have installed the Epic Games Store on mobile, but its goal was to reach 100 million by the end of 2024. The company blames Apple and Google’s “onerous restrictions and scare screens” as the cause, citing that it takes 12 steps to install on Android and 15 steps to install on iOS.

Another issue Epic has had to deal with is developers’ reluctance to distribute their games outside of the default mobile marketplaces. The game publisher states that:

So far none of the 100 highest grossing mobile game developers are willing to distribute their games on the Epic Games Store because of the [iOS] Core Technology Fee.

The core technology fee (CTF) is a €0.50 per install charge Apple levies on developers once they cross 1 million downloads if they distribute their app on a third-party store. Epic states, “they have to pay the fee every time any of their games are downloaded on iPhones or iPads, whether it’s from the Apple App Store or an alternative store.” As you can imagine, such a fee could quickly become unmanageable for any developer.

To convince more developers to join its free game program, Epic says it will pay these developers’ CTF for one year. The company acknowledges that it’s “not financially viable” for them to do this long term, but claims it will keep doing it as the European Commission investigates Apple’s non-compliance to the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

“The ridiculous irony is that Epic Games is able to fully compete with the App Store on equal terms only in Europe,” Epic CEO Tim Sweeney told The Verge. “In America, we are blocked from it. And in America, a US citizen cannot obtain Fortnite [on iOS] — it is blocked from you by Apple. I think that’s ridiculous, and that needs to change, and it will change.”